Beemon

No not with me, hence why I didn't go under... I may be young and dumb, but I'm not that dumb.

The only award I've ever gotten was a prominent start plaque. Basically I'm the youngest guy there with a badly worn car but the drivetrain is 100% complete. I used to go to cruise-ins, too, but the one I went to, the guy that built my old engine is a prominent member in their group and the last time I went I was asked to leave. I did go to a drive-in on campus here, though.

It's probably too thick. I ran out of 30 amp fuses, it was just to get me to the Formula SAE club meet today.

Alright guys, I pulled apart the starter relay today to check the points. They were badly arced, so I have them a good filing... didn't help. I traced the source I think to the solenoid on the starter. After confirming the switch was ground, and got the starter running on the car by itself, I unhooked the battery wire from the switch and no change. This tells me the battery feed isn't the issue. Next I unhooked the switch wire and no change. This tells me voltage from the battery isn't back feeding from the switch. Lastly, I removed the starter wire from the switch and it died. Tapping the starter wire to the relay with the key on caused the points to open and close (without starting the car), so the relay is good. I have thus concluded it must be the solenoid. After cycling the starter by turning over with the carb and removing the starter wire from the relay, it finally must have broke contact on the solenoid because I have not been able to reproduce these conditions. Also, these tests were done with the coil wire removed so the engine never started, to avoid damaging the starter. To get down and dirty, if it pops up again, I'll have to remove my starter shield and I'm feeling a bit lazy right now without my 2 ton shop jack (only brought a scissor jack with me). Will continue to monitor, but I think I might be in the clear. This only occurred after the fuse on the relay blew, which I'm sure caused the arc. I have substituted a bolt for now...

If it's already broken, you may as well take it apart and assess the damage. I do not recommend 3d printing parts, 3d printing materials are extremely brittle and only good for small demonstrations or areas with little stress (think getting kicked by accident here). Depending on how thick the part is, it will get really pricey depending on how much extra support material is needed. Looks like that car belonged to someone with children who like to kick the back of seats.

If you didn't stick that felt washer at the end so the boot doesn't cut circulation off when coming back up, that's your issue. The felt washer is to keep the boot from getting stuck over the top. Read through Part 5 (Release Stage) in the shop manual under Power Brakes. When your foot comes off the pedal, the vacuum chamber is vented to atmosphere to release pressure by releasing a check ball in the vacuum side and venting out the stem around the push rod.There will be momentary vacuum here, this is what pulls the boot in around the push rod. The boot keeps it from venting to atmosphere. The original boot was fairly large and was not a problem because it didn't taper, so it allowed the vacuum to vent through to the air cleaner cover. These new aftermarket ones are garbage, I just cut an 1/8" hole in mine. The only issue with a vented boot is that it makes a hiss when you release, versus the original boot that was completely sealed (it would still hiss, but you wouldn't hear it because it would vent at the air cleaner on the other side of the fire wall). Why the suppliers don't make a correct boot is beyond me.

Sounds like the leather cup in the brake booster is try. Try squirting a little bit of atf fluid into the breather on the side of the booster.

Glad you're having fun with the Buick! Feels great to finally be out there, doesn't it? I think people at shows generally gravitate to Buicks because they are so few compared to the amount of Fords and Chevies.

Good luck and stay safe!

Fel-Pro makes the stamped steel, BestGasket makes a composite gasket. Both of them I think you can buy from a vendor like Fusick or CARS, but over the counter they only come in the kits.

Do you still have the original setup? I'd be interested to know how it hooked up to an intake source. Also, not really related to my Buick, but here's a picture of the sun today:

Thanks guys! No immediate danger here except air quality, though the other night the horizon was a hue of orange from the distant Idaho fires. Yesterday I swapped pretty much everything back over to stock. My air cleaner stud came out nice after an hour of on off filing. I promised the car I would leave her as she is, so really if you see me past something like "I'm thinking about doing this" please stop me. I might not listen, but please try to talk me down! On a side note, I put the distributor in 180 out after I lined up the mark on the harmonic balancer. Turns out there's two marks. >:( I had security check up on me in the parking lot because I had choice words and they thought I needed a tow. "No sir, I'll be here until she runs again." I only found out I was 180 out after I did a full inspection diagnoses of the ignition system. And of course after this, the fuse on the starter relay blew and welded the points together. After beating the casing with a screw driver, it finally unstuck. So that's my next project. It's too bad you can't find quality replacements anywhere.

Those brake units are really easy to rebuild, and will probably only run you $300 if you do it yourself. If you go that route, you just need the kit, leather cup and stainless piston. Dont listen to anyone that says it needs to be sleeved, either, because they will not know what they're talking about. If you upgrade, do not fall fIr the "dual reservoir is safer" sales pitch, that is also false.

I don't expect anyone to know what Destiny 2 is, but before I starred my mechanic skills, I was pretty good at my thumb skills. Drove out to Moscow last night amid wildfires and took these photos. Most everyone is wearing respirators today. I just taped a double folded wet wash cloth over my mouth, seems to be working fine. Our air quality is regarded as "hazardous".

I've developed a vacuum leak somewhere, and I'm thinking it's coming from the washer jar, so I at least need to go to ACE for the motor mount bolts. Everything else seems to be fine, though. The PCV system was giving me hard starting issues, so I removed that as well in anticipation for the road draft tube coming in. With the road draft tube, I need to remove the late distributor and put the early one back in... with the early distributor, the vacuum line to the advance won't mate to the carburetor... it's a cascade effect lol.

I took inventory today, looks like I'm missing the carb stud for the WCFB, too, and one screw for the wiper motor... road draft tube is in the mail, but it's a spare - not sure what happened to the original one, or the carb stud, but if I were a betting man, I'd say it was in plain sight where I left it at home and my sister is just blind. Good thing there's an ACE Hardware in town, should have just left everything alone.

I'm sorry to hear that, Bernie. Here's hoping the damage can be reversed easily!

Pretty neat until it hits you just right!

Matt, your stance looks perfect! Looks like you won't need any springs any time soon!

Was that off of the 55? I would have assumed the WCFB would be the same across years, but I guess they were technically still new and revolutionary for the time. How were the butterflies shaped differently? Just angle of attack in the base? Looking forward to seeing your car out and about on the streets!

Looking forward to seeing many more trips, Matt!

How were the two bases different?

Here's the PDF I was looking for. It basically outlines you need custom steering knuckles made or else you won't get the right geometry for this type of setup. You could easily make your own based off the originals with a laser cutter or CNC machine, but they are necessary to not bind.

The drag link takes up considerable amount of space under the oil pan, a rack and pinion setup would fit just fin. I think if you had the right bracket, you could just bolt it up to where the box and idler arm bolt to the frame. The real issue is the steering knuckle at the king pin. If I recall correctly, they have to be perpendicular to the spindle, whereas the OEM is angled back slightly. Or it could be the other way around, I don't remember. It's been a while since I've researched this subject, but I've heard others have done it by modifying a kit for the Tri-5 Chevy. If your steering box is leaking, you can get it re-sealed. If it's got a lot of play in it, good luck. Don't fall victim to business out there that say they can rebuild it. They will rob you blind and only install a seal kit. Ask me how I know. I wouldn't bother with a rebuild unless they can manufacture new rack and pinion gears for the original steering box. Another crucial part to rebuild is setting the preload of the worm gears. I had sent mine out because it was leaking and the steering was loose. Came back leak free, but still had a lot of play. Another member here put a Tri-5 box in, and had success with the application. Others I think have used a Jeep box as a replacement. Whichever route you go, you will have to get custom lines made. Might be best to replace the pump with a modern one to fit the steering unit you go with, for ease of installation. Good luck, and post updates whichever way you go.

My girlfriend had this same problem with her 2007 Pontiac G6. Turns out, there was a piece of some type of wax paper stuck over the end of the sensor and was causing it to malfunction. Could just be something in there that found it's way to the sensor, here's hoping its not!